Originally Posted by Air
Now, when your hands are in the drops (below the hoods and able to grab the brakes) what angle are they supposed to be at? It seems if I bend my elbows I put a lot of pressure on the top of my hand (in between my thumb and forefinger). If I tilt the handlebars up it's much more comfortable but I don't think it's correct.
I would say the angle for your hands in the drops should be so that your wrists are not bent up or down. Pretty much when you grip the bar you want your wrists straight.
Looking at your photos, I would say you have your bars angled up too much ... the bottom of the drops should typically be parallel to the ground and/or top tube, if anything, pointing down a little.
You have a little room in how you position your brake lever, where you place it on the curve of the bar, although there is a certain measurement where they are suppose to be. I have mine a little high. The reason for that is my stem is too short. A 120mm stem came on my bike; I swapped out to a 100mm w/17 degree rise, and it is STILL to short. I had a bike fitting last Friday and was told that a 90mm stem should do me fine. The problem for me is that I am STILL reaching too far when resting on my hoods, so I place too much weight on my hands. If a person is not comfortable on their hoods it is probably because they have too long a stem and are reaching and thus putting too much weight on the hands.
Also, my 2 cents is that the drops are made for racers and skinny people (typically one and the same). To bend over that long for a period of time in the drops is uncomfortable for me, a smaller clyde (208/6-1). I think a larger clyde would have more of a belly than me and would find the drops even more uncomfortable. I do 95%+ of my riding on the hoods/tops.